Mews NewsNo.3 May 2003 News of the mews from Lurot Brand - The London Mews Company. The only estate agency specialising in the sale and rental of mews properties. ANOTHER SMART MOVE FOR LUROT BRAND In 1999 the trend for estate agents to use cars for publicity went into top gear after we imported one of the first of the now-familiar Smart city cars to London.The cute little car created enormous interest and became an instantly recognised symbol of the company as it buzzed around town. Now we are in pole position again. Having put down an order at last year’s Paris Motor Show, Oliver Lurot and Nick Salmon collected the latest addition to the firm’s fleet from France on April 11th and so became the first UK owners of Smart’s new sports coupe. In fact the car was the first of its type to leave the dealer in Paris and was appropriately toasted in champagne. It is not officially launched here until September though a few left hand drive models may be available from June. "We gained enormous recognition with our early Smart cars and this new Roadster is totally in keeping with our image,” said Oliver.“ It really stands out in the crowd.” Nick added:“ It's a sophisticated, intelligent design, beautifully put together. Rather like some of our mews houses!" BUY NOW - OR RISK LOSING OUT. TAKE UP OUR OFFER... In the January issue we said: “The mews market property will sell but it will be at a realistic price. We receive enquiries from all over the world from is active but buyers are being very choosy and an Buyers know they have time to make a decision people wanting to buy or rent a mews house in London but unlike most estate agents who deal only in the over-optimistic price will put them off even but they also have to be aware that waiting for immediate area round their offices, we cover all of bothering to look.” prices to fall may not be sensible. central London. That assessment of the market is still accurate If your mews house is in the north, south, east or west At some point in the not-too-distant future large today, if anything, more so. of the Capital we want to help you, so to start the numbers of dormant buyers will sense that the process we will provide you with a pre-sale or pre- The onset of the war in Iraq made no discernible market is not going to collapse with prices in renting opinion of the possible sale price or rental value of your property. difference to the number of mews houses being free-fall and will start their search again in sold and unlike the 1991 conflict no-one pulled earnest. Although stock levels have improved in To take up our offer - and there is no obligation to ultimately use our services - just call 020 7479 1999 out of a deal citing the war as the reason. recent weeks there is unlikely to be enough for and mention Mews News. sale to satisfy everybody. The fact is, the market was softening long before the war became a certainty and the rate of house The message is:‘Don’t be a sheep and follow the price inflation in London had been slowing for crowd. Buy now and avoid losing out to future Prior to 1899, Devonshire Close W1 was named many months. Today the reality is that any competition’. ‘Cape of Good Hope Mews’ At a time when the average person moves house every Where in the Mews? Living and Working five years it is rare to meet a couple who have lived the same property for 40 years. But that is exactly what in Leinster Mews - Francis and Martha Gail Kelly have done with their house in Leinster Mews, Lancaster Gate,W2. for 40 Years! Francis was already a successful artist by the time he and his wife bought their mews house in the early 1960's.The building could not only accommodate an engraving studio in its ground floor but also had the space to add a top floor room with lots of glass to provide the all-important natural light for painting and drawing. The house has not only been a place of work.The couple's children were raised there and now grandchildren play in rooms hung with pictures charting a life of travel and observation. Can you identify the mews where this distinctive arch is located? The first correct entry out of the hat will receive a bottle of champagne. Entries by post or email: [email protected] Clue: Named for an ancient appointment in the Church? Francis Kelly was born 1927 and received his early education in Chicago and California. The winner of last issue’s After serving in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to competition to tell us where this lamp is situated is Dame Beulah 1948 he entered art school in Los Angeles. Bewley who correctly identified His talents led him to attend the Academie Grosvenor Gardens Mews North. Our congratulations and a bottle of de la Grande Chaumiere, Paris in 1951-52. In champagne are on their way to her. 1953 he moved to the University of Hawaii and then joined the University of California in Los Angeles where he was graphic laboratory assistant to John Paul Jones. Awarded a Fulbright grant in 1955 he came to the Graphic Department at the Central School, London, and in 1958 was awarded the Stacey grant for painting. Bathurst Mews W2 featured in ‘Scandal’ the film of the His study of painting conservation at the Courtauld Institute resulted in him being sent to Florence in 1967 Profumo Affair, though Stephen Ward’s house was to restore flood-damaged paintings. actually in Wimpole Mews W1. Inspiration for Francis has come from a diverse variety of sources including for example, the countryside, light on water, street posters and seaside piers. His work has been hung in the Royal Academy and today many of MEWS TO BUY his works can be seen on the website: http://www.franciskelly.com/ The pictures here are of Leinster Mews W2, just off Bayswater Road on the north side of Hyde Park. On the left is a recent photograph of the mews and on the right is an aquatint by Francis Kelly showing the distinctive feature of Spire House, one of the first of London's former churches to be converted into flats. We met the Kellys as a result of our request in the last edition for stories about unusual types of commercial activity in the mews. If your business is ‘different’ and you think Mews News readers would be interested, please drop us a line or an email. TIME TO GET YOUR ENTRY IN. Lurot Brand is once again sponsoring The Chelsea Garden's Guild 'MEWS IN BLOOM' competition. Kersley Mews SW11 The competition, which encourages community spirit by Minutes away from Battersea Park, this 1,174 sq ft house is inviting individual owners to get together and beautify their located in an exceptionally pretty mews. It has a galleried unique streets with window boxes, planters, shrubs and reception room, dining room, kitchen/breakfast room, 2 bedrooms, bathroom and shower room. trees, is open to any mews within a three mile radius of the Old Chelsea Town Hall. That covers Battersea to Maida Vale Freehold £565,000 Subject to Contract and the City to Hammersmith. Past winners include Spear Mews and Hesper Mews in SW5 and Sussex Mews East in W2. Kynance Mews in South Kensington fought off the competition admirably to win in Keep in Touch 2002. Perhaps your mews could be next? Keeping in touch with the properties we have for sale and rental is easy. The winning mews holds the solid silver Lurot Brand armada plate for one year following a presentation at the Guild's annual prize-giving at the Chelsea Physic Garden in July. If you have internet access MOST of our properties can be found at www.lurotbrand.co.uk.The site is updated daily.We are also able to email the Mews Update and our Entry to the competition is free once you or your mews has become a member of the Chelsea Gardens Guild. full colour details in .pdf (Acrobat) format. Membership costs just £16 per year and full details are available from the Guild's chairman, Mrs Penny Pocock Our printed Mews List is updated regularly and is on 020 7352 2729. Judging will take place on Saturday 28th June 2003 and the prize-giving takes place at the supplemented by our Mews Update - both can be posted Guild’s summer party on Monday 28th July 2003. to you on request and contain details of ALL our properties. Remember, a beautiful and blooming mews always enhances the quality of living for everyone and will go a long We advertise widely in the pages of The Sunday Times; way to maintaining or indeed increasing the value of your home, so no excuses – we look forward to hearing The London Magazine; London Agents, London Property from you very soon. News and The Resident. From the Archives NOT FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED! “Gentrification is a text-book demonstration of the austere geometry of supply and demand applied to housing. Predicated on concepts of change, growth, improvement and value, the process would be unworkable in any economy where people and jobs were not mobile or where inflation was zero or less. More significant still, gentrification would become a fringe pursuit, like brass- rubbing or lepidoptery if London were a city where new houses were built..